Yet If Hope Has Flown Away
by Revliledpembroke
Summary: Anakin has an enlightening talk with a stranger that may cause him to make some different choices.
1. Prophecies Suck- Edited

AN: So, this was an idea that occurred to me, early this morning, and I spent quite a bit of time refining it. I don't know if anyone else will have a taste for it. I'm just some small time writer with a better taste for reading these fics, rather than writing them, but some of these ideas just wouldn't leave me alone. This also happens to be my longest fic yet. Strange how these keep getting longer. Anyway, onward!

Everything belongs to Lucasfilm and the House of Mouse, I'm just dipping my toes in their swimming pool.

* * *

"Hey Anakin… you ever hear of a self-fulfilling prophecy?" I ask as plasma bolts fly over, just to the left, and slightly to the right of our heads.

"Uhh, no, and you really think this is the time for that?" he queries between gritted teeth, doing his best to block said plasma bolts.

"Nah, we'll be fine. Anyway, self-fulfilling prophecies are prophecies that are self-fulfilled."

"You never fail to grasp the obvious" Anakin states dryly. Clearly, he's learned more than saber skills and Force Techniques from his former Master, as he's managed to pick up Obi-Wan's humor as well.

"Shut up, there's more to it. Say, you had a vision where you saw something that you didn't want to happen, like, I don't know, today, Obi-Wan eats some food that's gone bad at a particular restaurant and it makes him sick and irritable for a week."

"It really doesn't take much to make the old man irritable for a week, though" Anakin says with a bit of chagrin.

"Anakin, what did you do?" I accused.

"What? Why is it always me?"

"Because the only person that I know who gets into as much trouble as you do is a smuggler friend of mine. Fortunately, the pair of you seem to be as adept at getting out of trouble as you are at getting into it." I said, exasperated with him.

"Well, you're not wrong."

" _Anyway,_ you didn't want Obi-Wan to get food poisoning at the restaurant, but your vision didn't give you enough information to recognize it. So, you decide to ask Obi-Wan if he knows a restaurant like that."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Shut up and go with it, making an example in the spur of the moment isn't the easiest thing to do in the world." Just then, several bolts hit uncomfortably close. "Especially not when under fire. Who's shooting at us anyway?"

"At the moment? I have no idea."

"Sheesh, some people think getting in the middle of a three-way gang war is a fun afternoon."

"Well, it isn't the worst afternoon I've ever had and I'm even having a little fun."

"Yeah, but you were a slave and then a Jedi. You don't exactly have a normal perspective."

"Weren't you trying to explain something?"

"Was I? Oh, yes. Where was I? Right! The restaurant. So, you ask Obi-Wan about it, saying that you're considering going there. He recommends it to you, but he gets the idea to go there in the first place because you brought it up."

"Ok, I sorta follow that. Still think it's stupid though."

"Would you let me finish?! You decide, for whatever reason, to wait outside the restaurant, staking the place out until Obi-Wan comes, so you can suggest some place else for tonight."

"But I-"

"Don't say it!"

"Fine."

"Anyway, you're staking the place out for several hours, but you see no sign of Obi-Wan. You finally get fed up with waiting and leave. As soon as you do, Obi-Wan arrives at the restaurant, gets a table, and east the food that makes him sick."

"And your point is?"

"AHH! My point is that if you hadn't asked about the restaurant, he wouldn't have gone there. In trying to avoid your vision, you would have caused it to happen!"

"I wouldn't have caused it! That shoddy restaurant did with their terrible food quality!" he declares.

"Well, yes, partially, but that wouldn't have been an issue for Obi-Wan to deal with if you hadn't reminded him of the name of the restaurant in the first place."

"Alright, but I still don't see what point you're trying to make" he says, stubbornly.

"Hmm… think of it this way. What if you had seen the terrible death of thousands of clones do to a terrorist bombing? Only whatever measures you put in place to try and prevent it, actually cause it to happen? You fire all the current guards and hire people you try to guarantee are trustworthy? Turns out one of the new guys is a sleeper agent and even he didn't know that he was. Or the chaos allows someone to stow away on the ship and hide until it's in hyperspace, and then they activate the bomb they hid near the engine, blasting a massive hole in the ship and killing every single being that is onboard. Does that finally put it into perspective for you, or did you need another example so it can be rammed through your thick skull?" I ask, exasperated.

"I…. I hadn't thought of it that way before" he says, floundering.

"Exactly. That's why people HATE visions from the future. They aren't sure of the context, they aren't sure when or where the images take place, and they aren't sure if the prophecy will happen if they try to prevent it from happening. That's why the Jedi are careful of such things. If I see myself killing my brother, do I convince myself that it's impossible, or do I start investigating as to what would make me want to kill my brother, until I find his deeply buried criminal connections just before he attempts to have me assassinated and I only kill him to make sure he won't still be coming after me?"

"What… what if it's a vision I cannot possibly let happen?" he asks plaintively.

"What if it's a vision you make come true by trying to prevent it?" I shoot back, and I can see it hit its mark.

"…." Anakin quietly ducks behind cover and shuts his lightsaber off, thinking deeply and almost ignoring my presence altogether.

"Is there anything you want to share, Anakin?"

"…. I've been having a vision where my wi-… a dear friend of mine dies in child birth. I can't let that happen, not after I failed the last woman close to me that I saw die in a vision" he explains.

"Anakin… does this woman live on a heavily populated planet?"

"Yes."

"Is she near a city? A large city?"

"Yes, the largest city in the galaxy."

"The capital?"

"Yes."

"Then you have nothing to worry about. Coruscant has the best medical facilities and medical facilities in the known galaxy. No hospital wants to be the one that "lets" an important senator, representative, or, Force forbid, the Chancellor himself, die in their hospital" I state, chuckling a little.

"But my visions always come true! I can't let her die!" he says forlornly.

"Anakin… do you think she'd rather die while seeing that her child still lived, with a 'good friend' to help make sure they grow up alright, or that her 'good friend' pushed himself to the point that he died while trying to save her, only for her to die as well, heartbroken that he had died?

"I-I-I…." he stutters.

"Anakin… all things die. Whether by age, war, disease, or unnatural causes, all things must pass on. Only the immoral and the insane try to prevent their deaths from old age. Is it any wonder that the Sith have tried so hard to do so, seeing as they tend to have larger than average portions of both immorality and insanity."

"No…no, you're right. I just don't want to lose another person close to me." His voice is definitely full of pain from some long simmering pain and an unhealthy amount of guilt.

"None of us do, Anakin. But none of us are all powerful. If we were, the war, the Sith, crime, famine, disease, and evil would not exist, and likely never would have. Neither would mother-in-laws. Instead, all we can do is muddle through life, doing our best. Anakin, would you push yourself so hard that you think the only thing that could save Pad-… your good friend is becoming a Sith, joining the Dark Side, and turning your back on the Republic and everything she stood for?" I say, driving the point home and striking a nerve.

"No, of course not! How could ask such a thing?!" he demands.

"… Even if you think it's the only way to save her?" I ask quietly.

He sits there, somehow managing to get even quieter than before. Fortunately, the plasma bolts have almost entirely stopped flying by, hopefully meaning we can leave soon. Just as I'm about to despair and start prodding Anakin out of his thoughts, he looks up at me and starts to speak.

"I hope I wouldn't, for I know that the Sith only know how to destroy and create twisted replicas that look like those they claim to be, but act far different. However, I'm not sure if my desperation would override my common sense. I hope I wouldn't turn into something that I've fought against my entire life."

"Then, Anakin, I think you have five choices. Choice one, the most unpleasant, accept that your vision is true and that Padme will die giving birth to your child and there is nothing you can do about it. Choice two is you ignore the vision and force yourself to believe that it's untrue, but you still take her to the best hospital on the planet. I call that option "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst." Choice three is you go out and find yourself a method that you think can save your wife. Whether that method is Jedi, Sith, or neither is up to you. Choice four is that you agree to get Padme to move to Corellia, and transfer yourself over to the Green Jedi, the Corellian Jedi who are allowed to marry, reveal your marriage, and ask for help from them. They always did think the rules were more like guidelines anyway. Or... you could take choice five, the stupidest, most reckless of the lot. Go in front of the Jedi Council, tell them of your visions of your wife's death, and ask for their help by having one of the most talented Jedi Healers in the Temple be on standby, ready and willing to help your wife. Which will it be?"

"I am…. undecided…"

"All choices have an element of risk in them, but which do you think you can live with?"

"I don't know…"

"I recommend the Jedi Healers or ignoring the visions and staying at the best hospitals. Making peace with her death is not something I'd be happy with and journeys of discovery attempting to find a 'cure' or 'lost knowledge' always take forever. Do you have that kind of time, to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other, looking in every nook and cranny for lost knowledge? How long does a trip to the Outer Rim to the Deep Core take, searching for various "lost depositories of knowledge"? How long until Padme gives birth? Are you willing to risk missing the birth of your child? Or, if the worst does come to pass, and she does die in childbirth, would you rather be with her, or chasing something that might never work halfway across the galaxy?"

"..." Anakin pondered silently.

"Or if you do join the Sith, what would Padme's reaction to that be? 'Hi honey, I joined the Sith to get power to save you, but don't worry, I can overthrow my Master at any time and you and I can rule as Emperor and Empress.' Sounds like quite the recruiting pitch, doesn't it? How much do you wanna bet that your wife, Miss Democracy herself, would not be a fan of that plan or of you joining the Sith for any reason? She'd probably hit you hard enough that you'd think you lost a fight with a Wookie."

"Hmmm… you are correct. My wife hits very hard when she's angry. Wait…where did you go? Where's the sound and the light? Where's the blaster fire? I don't underst-"

"AHHHH!"

"Anakin, what's wrong?" asked Padme, alarmed.

"Nothing, Padme, nothing" he reassures her. "Just my subconscious working through a few problems I've been thinking about."

"Alright, Ani. Good night, my love. Sleep well. I love you" she managed to say before falling asleep again.

"Good night my love. But while I'm up and you're asleep, let me look at the best hospitals on Coruscant and consider just what the fallout from telling the Council would be..."

AN: If it's bad, I blame writing it at 4 or 5 AM.

AN 2: Sorry, I was writing the next chapter and realized I was referencing something that didn't happen in this chapter, so I had to edit in the reference.


	2. Consequences- Edited

"So, Anakin, you're saying you violated the Jedi Code, married, and are about to have a child with your wife, and that you've been having visions about her dying in childbirth, and that you want Jedi Healers on standby to help her through this potentially troubled birth?"

"Yes, Obi-Wan, that sums up everything quite nicely."

"I always knew you had a talent for getting into trouble, but, even for you, this is ridiculous, Anakin. A wife? Really? If you wanted that, you should have convinced her to move to Corellia. They always did think the rules were more like guidelines anyway."

"Huh, you know, that guy in my dream said the exact same thing."

"..." Obi-Wan slowly pinches the bridge of his nose as he ponders just what his apprentice meant by such a statement.

"Anakin, what guy?"

"Huh? Oh, I had a dream where I ran into this stranger on a battlefield who introduced me to the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies."

"You hadn't run into that before? Not in any of the Jedi literature or wise Masters who speak of seeing into the future?"

"Not in so many words and not in one of the books I did bother to read."

"Anakin, why do you think Yoda, myself, and many others have said that 'wary of the future, you should be. Always in motion, it is.'"

"Talented, you are Obi-wan. As a Jedi and a comedian. Have a back-up career, you surely do. Need it, you might."

"Uhh, hello Master Yoda. How much of that did you overhear?"

"Enough to know that a long talk with Skywalker, the Council must have."

"I've got a really bad feeling about this."

"Me too, Anakin. Me too."

* * *

"You know Anakin, I never would have thought the Council would have been so lenient with someone who broke the Jedi Code so flagrantly."

"Yeah, apparently, being one of the most popular Jedi in a war where some of the Jedi are starting to be viewed very badly because we 'couldn't stop it from happening' and winning many of the battles I've been involved with has worked out for me. Who would have thought that the Jedi would cave to the public because they feared the outrage that might happen by casting me out in the middle of this terrible war?"

"You know you can't possibly be a Jedi after this war is over though. Nothing will be the same as it was."

"Ehh, at this point, so long as Padme survives, I don't care."

"Good for you, Anakin, that's a very mature outlook."

"Plus, I can always join the Green Jedi and have all new sorts of adventures. Maybe even become a pirate."

"And he's back. Good to see you haven't changed that much, my old Padawan. Now, given how Yoda has been dropping hints about me becoming a comedian, maybe I should follow you to Corellia. To make sure I'm still around to keep your skin in one piece."

"Master, how many times have I saved you? Wouldn't it be the other way round?"

"No, because this would be a new planet and new standards would apply. This time, I will be the one saving you."

"Well, you will try."

"Do or do not. There is no try."

"Obi-Wan, you know Yoda has been making hints about you being a comedian for some time now. Why are you antagonizing him more?"

"What are you talking about Anakin? I didn't say anything."

"Well, if I didn't say anything, and you didn't say anything, who just did that Yoda impression?"

"Oblivious, you are. Walked into my meditation chamber, you did."

"OH! Hello, Master Yoda! We, uh, were just leaving" said Obi-Wan belatedly.

"Yes we were. We'll get out from under your feet."

"Appreciate it, I do, as will your new Grandmaster on Corellia, Obi-Wan. Informed him, I have, that signed up for comedy lessons, you should be."

"Thank you Master Yoda, you're too kind."

"Know this, I do. Now, OUT!"

"YES MASTER YODA!" the duo said in unison.

* * *

And this is what lead to Obi-Wan and Anakin being relocated to Corellia. Eventually. Whenever the muse strikes and lets me continue this.

AN: For once, I didn't have a story idea come to me in the middle of the night. Huzzah!


End file.
